Danon Dr Jakov - Jadovno 1941.

THE HOLOCAUST OF THE KRAJINA JEWS – MEMOIRES –
REVIEW
The fact that the Holocaust in Bosnia and Herzegovina has never been researched
before says that any new research in this direction deserves special and exceptional attention.
This research is aimed to light up a very tragic period of history the Bosnia - Herzegovina
Jews, collecting facts from various archives, museums, libraries and memoires.
According to the available data - in Bosnia and Herzegovina before World War II,
lived about 14.500 Jews. This figure, however, is not exact, because before the war several
thousand Jews moved to Bosnia from Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic and fleeing
before Hitler arrived in this area.The Holocaust took about 70 percent of autochthonous
Bosnian Judaism, and almost all the Jews - refugees from other countries were brutally killed.
Domiciled Jews have survived largely thanks to the help of friends, neighbours and
acquaintances, but also thanks to the help of good people who have protected them in these
difficult times. Majority of Jews who survived a Holocaust lived in Sarajevo - the Capital of
Bosnia and Herzegovina. Others, who lived in the province, were killed in a huge percentage
of 95 to 100%. Such was the case with the Bosnian Krajina - the northwest part of Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Before World War II, majority of Jews in Bosanska Krajina lived in Banja
Luka, but the Jews lived also in smaller cities - Bihać, Sanski Most, Prijedor, Derventa, Bos
Brod, Doboj and ect. The Book "Sufferings of the Bosnian Krajina Jews during the Second
World War" included detailed research of the archives. Many new documents, data,
photographs and testimonies were collected and all known previous works about the
sufferings of the Jews in the Bosnian Krajina - systematised. According to data from Banja
Luka Municipality, more than 400 Jews over the age of 15 years were registered to wear a
yellow ribbon. The Book consists of previously unknown facts about the sufferings of the
Jews from Bihać, Prijedor and Sanski Most. It is very valuable knowledge on the way the
Jews were taken from these cities, the way they were collected and finally how they survived
the Holocaust. This, indeed, reveals a good relationship that Jews had with the inhabitants of
these cities, especially with people from Cazin, who kept and protected them from the
Ustasha terror and of a certain death. Research has also found those people who helped Jews,
and who will be recommended for the Medal of the Righteous the Israel Museum "Yad
Vashem". It should be noted that this is the first book on the territory of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, which describes in details the sufferings of the Jews. Previous books were
largely related to the victims, not to the descriptions and extensive documentation and
evidence of the existence of the Holocaust in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Even in Sarajevo,
where were killed over 8.000 Jews the research was never done. That is the reason why this
important research, done in this book should be seen, first of all from its historical
significance, because it revealed us many documents and previously unknown facts and as it
systematise individual research, documents and testimonies. An extraordinary effort in
creation of the Book, which demanded visiting of many archives, produced good results, so,
no doubt, we can talk about a very serious research whose value is yet to be adopted by
publishing of a Book, which will greatly help to understand all the horrors of the Holocaust
and the irreparable loss which was created through sufferings and extermination of the
Bosnian Krajina Jews.
Eli Tauber, Publicist
Researcher the History of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Jews
Advisor for Culture of the Jewish Community in Bosnia and Herzgovina
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